Hi! First of all, I used to be a kde user since I came to linux. I recently got bored of it and tried several wm's for some time: xfce, fluxbox and now fvwm. I also used enlightenment dr17 for a day or two, but it's way to heavy for my computer to work responsively (pentium 2.6, 512mb ram). I kind of like fvwm, and I'm planning to stick with it (i like the freedom it offers).
But the thing I missed most since I left kde or xfce was some of the standardization: the xdg specifications (from freedesktop.org). The main things I miss: -The configurations stay in one place (usually ~/.config/prog_name/) and doesnt fill up the home dir. -The menu specifications: installed apps put their menu entries in one place. -The autostart dir (not standardized at the time, will be an official standard in a few days) -The trash dir management. On the other hand, it's a nice feeling to be able to control everything from the setup scripts. So what I started doing was to adapt what I could of fvwm to the standards, while keeping the benefit of it's freedom of configuration: for instance, I moved ~/.fvwm/ to ~/.config/fvwm/. (I keep a simlink from the old place to the new one, for now, because it doesn't work otherwise.) Also, I started writting a trash management library following the xdg specs, so that trash management wrappers can be built around it. So what I propose is to make fvwm try to follow these standards, while not compromising our freedom of choice: ** The base directory spec: move ~/.fvwm/ to $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/fvwm/ (defaults to ~/.config/fvwm/) This could easilly be implemented and would benefit everyone, by uncluttering the home dir. If the devs don't mind, it could be used instead of ~/.fvwm/ .. ** The autostart spec (currently a draft): have a $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/autostart/ dir, a place where .desktop files could be placed to autostart programs. Yes, autostarting can be made from the fvwm config file. But it's only used by fvwm, and having a desktop-independent place to do it would be nice. Also, that would allow to make changes easilly without messing with the config files (good for newbies :P). In order to make it easy on the main code, there could be an external program availiable in a "standardization package" that one could exec from the config to do that. Clean and easy, also if someone doesn't like it, he doesn't use it. ** The menu spec: have a $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/menu/ where installed apps put their menus items in. The same way as before, there could be an external program to make fvwm menu entries from the dir items. We could put them in a submenu like "all apps" or something. Then we wouldn't need to edit the config or to use the console every time we install a new app. This doesn't replace the "user created" menus, but allows us to find in a submenu a specific app we don't use that much, or something like that. We still can manually create easy-to-find entries for our favourite apps.. Also like before, one could opt to use it in the config or not. ** The trash dir spec. Ok, not so much we could do related to fvwm :P but some desklets could implement it :) ******** Other xdg compliant add-ons could be made according to the user needs. None of them forces the user to use them, and none of them requires the direct intervention of the fvwm dev team, except the first one.. If they don't mind either changing the config dir or adding another one, following the spec, it would be nice. I'll eventually make some addons for my personal use, by my pace, but once finished they will be released under gpl :) If any of you want to join the effort please feel free to do so. Hope these ideas go thowards everyone's (specially the devs') likings.. Cheers! Renato Caldas
